THE SOUND of traffic on Cavan’s narrow streets was replaced by music yesterday as the 60th annual Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann got under way.
An anticipated quarter of a million lovers of traditional music and song have begun flocking to the town for the event, which runs for the rest of the week.
The fleadh, last held in Cavan in 1954, is an internationally recognised traditional Irish cultural event which also showcases traditional music, concerts, céilithe, parades, pageants, pub and street music sessions. Apart from the event itself, 800 participants are attending Scoil Éigse, a major summer college of Irish traditional music and dance which is also being hosted in Cavan by the fleadh organisers, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
The main fleadh events take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday next when the crowds attending the festival are expected to peak.
The huge economic impact of the event on business in the region was emphasised last night by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith at the official opening of the fleadh. “Apart from its major cultural importance, the fleadh is of huge economic benefit to the wider Cavan business sector,” Mr Smith said.
Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, ard stiúrthóir of Comhaltas, in welcoming the early crowds, said this year’s fleadh was “a further milestone in the positive saga of our cultural traditions”.
He summed up the atmosphere in Cavan for the days ahead, when he declared: “The fleadh is about creativity, exuberance and energy, which are manifested generously and with great skill by the performers at the heart of this unique event.”
Cavan county manager Jack Keyes, chairman of the fleadh committee, said he was particularly delighted to see the huge expansion of interest in traditional music and culture in the area in the countdown to the event.
Pubs and catering establishments in the town had made a special effort at their premises to ensure all fleadh patrons with a disability would get easy access to venues during the fleadh.
Hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfasts in close proximity to Cavan were booked out yesterday, but fleadh organisers were still arranging to get latecomers accommodated at locations within a few miles of the town.